Dr Kat Schneider

Dr Kat Schneider (she/her) is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) at the University of the West of England. She has a PhD in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Liverpool John Moores University, as well as a master’s in Psychology and a bachelor’s in Sports Science with Management from Loughborough University. 

Body Image Research 

In her current role at CAR, she is primarily involved in developing and evaluating body image interventions for coaches and girls in sport, with the goal to create safe, inclusive, accepting, and body positive sport environments for girls around the world. Kat also works across multiple projects aimed at improving body image among different populations and in various contexts, such as in sport, education, and digital media environments. 

Weight Stigma Research 

Kat is the principal investigator on a project exploring weight bias and weight stigma among fitness professionals, with the overarching aim to create size and body inclusive fitness spaces. This research will explore fitness professionals’ willingness to engage in weight bias interventions and features that will lead to intervention uptake, completion, and maintenance of outcomes, with the long-term goal to develop and evaluate an anti-weight bias intervention for fitness professionals.

Other Research

Aside from her current role, Kat is also involved in the Crisis and Resilience Expertise (CaRE) group at Edgehill University, where she has conducted multiple systematic reviews on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises on mental health and well-being outcomes, including the effect of pandemics on the psychological well-being of healthcare workers, the effect of inequality on mental health disparities during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the impact of national and international financial crises on population-level mental health and well-being outcomes.